Source: huffingtonpost.in
These are the prepared remarks “Our America”: Brian Levin; Director, Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, California State University, San Bernardino for the Annual Jalsa Salana Conference in Harrisburg, PA; July 30, 2016
A Star in The Constellation of American Faiths
Distinguished hosts and all my dear friends and neighbors in the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, thank you so very much for the privilege of sharing in your annual Jalsa Salana conference.
My address today is entitled “Our America” and my name is Brian Levin. For almost two decades I have directed the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University in San Bernardino, a community that has endured the evil scourge of violent hatred by extremists who distorted your faith and claimed to be Muslim.
But, as his holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad explained, “If a person does not follow a particular teaching properly whilst claiming to subscribe to it, then it is he who is in error, not the teaching.”Indeed, for over a century your community has been a shining star in our twinkling constellation of American faiths, from veterans on foreign battlefields, to scientists and medical doctors, and of course your incredibly outsized contributions to the uniquely American art form of jazz music.
The Ideal of Religious Liberty
Most importantly, though it is our common embrace of two core American values that brings me here today: the divinity of human life and the centrality of individual liberty, particularly in the area of religious freedom–not only for our individual lives, but our collective ones as well.
To appreciate the centrality of religious liberty in Our America, one need look no further than the words of our foundational texts and those of our founding fathers. Pluralism and religious freedom transcend contemporary politics, and are critical to the moral framework that dates back to our genesis and makes America truly exceptional.
Our American Constitution’s Article 6 bans religious tests forhuffingtonpost.in
To: Brian Levin, Director of The Study of Hate and Extremitism at California State University, in San Bernadino. You should be aware that the Bible and the Koran are subject to the Judaism scriptures, both being extensions of same, through translation/transliteration. I am aware of the extent of ignorance regarding this subject. In sequence: Judaism Scriptures; Crucifixion; Bible (from Paul and the Deciples); Koran (Mohammed via the Christians , in personal contact). When you hear Christians, Mohammads, Muslims and Islamists talking about their ‘faith’ it is simple copybook reflection, it is not their true selves, having been indoctrinated in isolation from childhood. I have contacted London (Queen, three PM’s plus others), no response.